Parenti played pretty fast and loose on that list but a some it is true (though the exchange rates and numbers are wrong I think on some of it, and who got those benefits was not consistent). Some of it is absolutely not true though. Libyan banks did give out interest baring loans, however the interest was labeled as "Administrative Expense" rather than an interest rate as part of way to get out of Muslims charging other Muslims interest. Libyans also did pay area dependent electricity rates, and electricity was shut off if there was unpaid bills. Housing was declared a human right and tenants did claim homes and got out of renting but it was a one time program I think. The wedding gift was law, however in practice very very few people actually got it, it was basically a bureaucratic nightmare to try and get it. Education was free, however it was constantly shifting around changing ideology of the state and was all over the place. The foreign medical allowance is not true, there's no evidence I can find of it being used in any substantial way but there are a few times I can find it occurring. The farming law was on the books but very few people ever actually got it. It basically did not exist as an attainable grant for the general public. The thing with the car grants, cannot find any evidence. The fuel price is true. The debt stuff and wealth is true, but even when the wealth was there it was not being spent on attainable universal programs. The unemployment payments, again not attainable to the general public. The oil sale, I can find Gaddafi making a speech saying this, but it was never implemented as far as I can tell. Gaddafi made a lot of speeches about putting money directly in Libyan citizens hands, and that happened at various points in time depending on certain circumstances, but it was never consistent and really did not happen at all the last 10 years of his rule.
The maternity payment is not true. There was a child benefit welfare payment I found, but it was not very much money.
The bread price is true, it was subsidized by the state.
The university degree stat I think it true, however looking at the university system it had limited facilities for way too many students and was underfunded, but was still a big effort. Also just on the general education system, it was extremely politicized with study of Gaddafi's green book, and that resulted in really weird stuff getting taught in primary and secondary schools like it has some relatively normal stuff (if unimplemented, and requiring weird explanations) but also some whacky stuff in there, like claiming black people are lazy and polygamous due to colonialism preserving primitive practices so they will eventually dominate the population and have vengeance. It's a weird collection of aphorisms. The weird language ban also hurt students.
The irrigation project is true.
I also want to say that the point of that post creates this narrative that Libya was social paradise that NATO came in and ruined. This is not totally true and ignores the reasons for which the revolution occurred in the first place. Gaddafi was a very strange person, at the same time devoted to an Islamic socialism, anti-Marxist, pan-arab and then anti-pan arab, had thousands die in a insane war on Chad etc. When the revolution kicked off there was massive popular support against Gaddafi. He spoke a lot about Libyans having direct democracy in their lives and stamping out bureaucracy, but he and his supporters took over the state in a coup, people he put in charge and trained were that bureaucracy, he's decrying while at the same time creating it. His whole belief system to me seemed like a weird mixture of true belief in socialism, incoherent statements about Marxism, pan Arabian and then African nationalism rooted in Islam, with a bunch of other eclectic things attached to it. All the meanwhile he's running the country in a very controlled fashion and doing a bunch of eccentric stuff. I mean the guy had a gold plated gun collection, and had a golden pistol on him when he was killed and there's pictures of rebels who raided his compound holding all the other golden and jewel encrusted guns. How much power he personally had and how it was used is unclear to me beyond it being extremely mixed and leaning towards at minimum a bad leader with bad management skills. I mean his sons flaunted oil wealth. IMO Gadaffi said a lot of stuff and made lot of gestures of socialism and anti-imperialism, and then implemented a low minimum standard while maintaining extremely weird and incoherent practices that caused a lot of harm.
As far as I can tell, Parenti made that list in a facebook post in 2011. I can't find sources for most of it that actually cite anything in a detailed way.
Some legit detailed studies of Libya I am aware of are this book and this book.
I cant wait for the next CIA coup in Latinamerica to be lead by an african-american :biden:
So he helped kill gadaffi and destablelize Lybia, he must be a hillary clinton pick :hillgasm:
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any podcasts or articles detailing this? I had no idea
Parenti played pretty fast and loose on that list but a some it is true (though the exchange rates and numbers are wrong I think on some of it, and who got those benefits was not consistent). Some of it is absolutely not true though. Libyan banks did give out interest baring loans, however the interest was labeled as "Administrative Expense" rather than an interest rate as part of way to get out of Muslims charging other Muslims interest. Libyans also did pay area dependent electricity rates, and electricity was shut off if there was unpaid bills. Housing was declared a human right and tenants did claim homes and got out of renting but it was a one time program I think. The wedding gift was law, however in practice very very few people actually got it, it was basically a bureaucratic nightmare to try and get it. Education was free, however it was constantly shifting around changing ideology of the state and was all over the place. The foreign medical allowance is not true, there's no evidence I can find of it being used in any substantial way but there are a few times I can find it occurring. The farming law was on the books but very few people ever actually got it. It basically did not exist as an attainable grant for the general public. The thing with the car grants, cannot find any evidence. The fuel price is true. The debt stuff and wealth is true, but even when the wealth was there it was not being spent on attainable universal programs. The unemployment payments, again not attainable to the general public. The oil sale, I can find Gaddafi making a speech saying this, but it was never implemented as far as I can tell. Gaddafi made a lot of speeches about putting money directly in Libyan citizens hands, and that happened at various points in time depending on certain circumstances, but it was never consistent and really did not happen at all the last 10 years of his rule.
The maternity payment is not true. There was a child benefit welfare payment I found, but it was not very much money.
The bread price is true, it was subsidized by the state.
The university degree stat I think it true, however looking at the university system it had limited facilities for way too many students and was underfunded, but was still a big effort. Also just on the general education system, it was extremely politicized with study of Gaddafi's green book, and that resulted in really weird stuff getting taught in primary and secondary schools like it has some relatively normal stuff (if unimplemented, and requiring weird explanations) but also some whacky stuff in there, like claiming black people are lazy and polygamous due to colonialism preserving primitive practices so they will eventually dominate the population and have vengeance. It's a weird collection of aphorisms. The weird language ban also hurt students.
The irrigation project is true.
I also want to say that the point of that post creates this narrative that Libya was social paradise that NATO came in and ruined. This is not totally true and ignores the reasons for which the revolution occurred in the first place. Gaddafi was a very strange person, at the same time devoted to an Islamic socialism, anti-Marxist, pan-arab and then anti-pan arab, had thousands die in a insane war on Chad etc. When the revolution kicked off there was massive popular support against Gaddafi. He spoke a lot about Libyans having direct democracy in their lives and stamping out bureaucracy, but he and his supporters took over the state in a coup, people he put in charge and trained were that bureaucracy, he's decrying while at the same time creating it. His whole belief system to me seemed like a weird mixture of true belief in socialism, incoherent statements about Marxism, pan Arabian and then African nationalism rooted in Islam, with a bunch of other eclectic things attached to it. All the meanwhile he's running the country in a very controlled fashion and doing a bunch of eccentric stuff. I mean the guy had a gold plated gun collection, and had a golden pistol on him when he was killed and there's pictures of rebels who raided his compound holding all the other golden and jewel encrusted guns. How much power he personally had and how it was used is unclear to me beyond it being extremely mixed and leaning towards at minimum a bad leader with bad management skills. I mean his sons flaunted oil wealth. IMO Gadaffi said a lot of stuff and made lot of gestures of socialism and anti-imperialism, and then implemented a low minimum standard while maintaining extremely weird and incoherent practices that caused a lot of harm.
As far as I can tell, Parenti made that list in a facebook post in 2011. I can't find sources for most of it that actually cite anything in a detailed way.
Some legit detailed studies of Libya I am aware of are this book and this book.
Probably helping out with the obscure shit the US has been doing in Niger for the last few years too